How To Test For Drive Failure on Asus PC?

macman

I'm looking at an Asus V Series P5G33 PC which won't boot into any Windows or Safe Mode (or indeed any mode). It has apparently been blue-screening for a while, and the drive makes a clicking noise when it tries to load Windows.
I'm 99% certain this is drive failure, (PSU and SATA cable are OK) but is there any way of doing a diagnostic check on an Asus to test the drive please? I've looked in the BIOS and can't see any diagnostic functions, is there another Fn key to hit at start up on an Asus that would get me into a diagnostic menu?
Alternatively, is there some 3rd party free software that I can use to test it without being able to boot from that drive first?

JasX

Find out what brand of hard drive your machine has (it won't be ASUS), you'll find a suite of diagnostic tools on the website of whoever made it.

either open the machine and look at the label, or get the model number from BIOS/device manager and google it.

macman

It's a Western Digital. But if I can't boot it to install the software how can I use it?

googler

HDD manufacturers anticipated this, and the diagnostic tools usually run from a CD or floppy.

gonzo127

most hard drive diagnostic software is run from a disk (CD or DVD), so the only thing you need to change is the boot order on the system in the bios so that it boots from disk before hard drive

JasX

macman wrote: »

It's a Western Digital. But if I can't boot it to install the software how can I use it?

As above WD diagnostics will boot from floppy or CD/DVD, you might need to hook up a floppy or optical drive to the PC and change the boot order if its lacking.

alternatively hook the hard drive up to a working PC and run the diagnostics from there

turbobob

There are various Boot CD's full of utilities (including HDD diagnostics) that might be useful if you regularly have to deal with PC "issues". Hiren's Boot CD and Ultimate Boot CD are two examples.

chunter

make sure you get all valuable files off before doing a diagnostic.
Running a full diagnostic of a failing drive has a habit of destroying it completely!

macman

OK thanks everybody, I ran a full WD diagnostic from a CD and the drive has failed. It is an ex hard drive, it has ceased to be etc.
Which was what I thought.

[Deleted User]

If the drive qualifies then Western Digital's RMA process is probably the best around as they do an advanced replacement services where they will send you a replacement drive out straight away and then you return the faulty one in the packaging. You need to provide a credit card number to facilitate the service although they are generous with the time they allow you to return the faulty drive, they will charge you if you don't.

macman

Many thanks for that anewhope, I checked on the WD site and it still has one year of warranty left, so it'll go back to WD shortly.
Wasn't expecting that on a 3 year old component.